Present pneumatic stock feeders capable of handling metal strip stock having widths of twelve inches or greater characteristically require very heavily constructed moving feed slides and related parts in order to operationally accommodate the relatively high operational forces involved, e.g. stock gripping forces of 1000 pounds and higher and feed forces of 200 pounds and higher. Such heavy construction obviously adversely affects not only the mechanical response times and the subsequent speed of operation, but also the manufacturing and other costs of such feeders. Further these larger feeders have for the most part just one control mode of operation and are not capable of being readily shifted to another control mode or having at last a substantial portion of the entire control circuitry removable from the feeder, as a unit, for repairs or replacement.